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Jul 22, 2020 • 6 min read
Stunning and Challenging au tao
Danzhai, a quiet little corner of rural Guizhou province, is bubbling with creativity. The local Miao people, one of China’s 56 officially recognized ethnic groups, have for countless generations practiced and passed on traditional crafts that form the backbone of their rich cultural heritage. Moreover, the region is awash with master craftspeople working with tools and techniques unchanged for thousands of years.
A craft that has gained global recognition and is said to have first originated in Guizhou province is batik. This intricate process involves applying images and color to cloth. In Chinese, it’s known as la ran, and in the Miao tongue, it is referred to as au tao. One of the top practitioners of au tao in the region is Zhang Shixiu, who was recognized as a master of the craft in 2014.
The concept of au tao is beautifully simple. Molten beeswax is ‘painted’ onto cloth, which is then dipped in natural indigo dye, allowing the unwaxed parts to take on color. Finally, the cloth is boiled to melt the wax away, revealing the finished image. However, it is a bit more challenging in practice.
Zhang’s village home, elevated on a hillside with dreamy views over rice terraces, has converted to include a batik workshop, dyeing room, and simple accommodation for travelers eager to learn the craft themselves. You will be handed a handkerchief-sized square of white cloth to explore your artistic potential. The workshop is filled with the honeyed aroma of melted beeswax and fresh cotton.
Using a curved brass knife designed to drip and disperse the melted wax, you will paint lines on the cloth. Next comes the dyeing process, in vats of natural indigo dye made from a local plant. The more you dip, the richer the final color becomes, consequently staining your fingertips a deep blue.
The most satisfying stage is the boiling process, which melts away the wax and unveils your design.
Nearby, a local woman from the village, dressed in pale pink robes with a silver and cloth headband, might be painting an intricate wax pheasant onto a silk scarf. The finished piece sells for around 500 RMB (about $70 USD) in Zhang’s shop or upwards of 2000 RMB (about $250 USD) if sold through a middleman at a boutique in Guiyang airport.
Clothing That Tells a Story
Traditionally, almost all Miao women practice batik, creating household items such as bedding or clothing. Furthermore, it is customary for the Miao to create ceremonial costumes for significant life events, including wedding dresses and funeral shrouds. Since establishing her workshop in 2014, Zhang has employed around 200 local villagers, with about eight in the workshop at any given time. This empowerment has made Miao women more independent both financially and socially.
“Traditionally, Miao women held a lower social status than men, and many were illiterate,” explains Zhang. “They were often unable to even distinguish different values of banknotes.” The villagers receive payment per piece they create, allowing them to balance this work with other responsibilities such as planting and harvesting rice, household chores, cooking, and raising children.
The completed pieces are sold onsite or in shops at Danzhai Wanda Village, a tourist attraction and social enterprise that supports Miao culture and crafts. Zhang has also leveraged China’s advanced e-commerce technology, offering a range of batik products online, including handbags, clothing, and table runners, also utilizing livestreams to showcase her products.
Paper Pushers
Several mountains away from Zhang’s village lies Shi Qiao (Stone Bridge) Village, named after a naturally eroded rock bridge spanning the Nangao River. Upstream from this bridge, the Nangao emerges from an enormous cave adorned with stalactites. For centuries, this prehistoric cavern has served as a Miao paper-making factory, producing superior quality paper due to the waters’ alkalinity and the bark from a particular local tree.
Wang Xingwu, a local craftsman, has supplied paper to the National Library of China and the Palace Museum (The Forbidden City), where it has been used to restore ancient imperial texts. The highest-grade paper he produces is as thin as spider silk and almost translucent; a dao (100 sheets) can sell for as much as 3000 RMB (about $400 USD).
His shop, filled with neatly stacked paper and a dry, woody fragrance, is a treasure trove for fans of boutique stationery. Some papers are colored with natural dyes to create patterns, while others are pressed with real flowers, resembling artisan wallpaper.
While approximately 80 families practiced papermaking in the village decades ago, only about one-tenth maintain the craft today. Pan Yuhua, another craftsman from Stone Bridge who learned the art from his grandfather, has gained recognition locally for using self-designed machines to streamline traditional papermaking while preserving the craft’s essence.
Uncommon Thread
In addition to batik and papermaking, embroidery using vividly colored threads is another traditional craft in Danzhai. You can observe this craft at Village Story, a social enterprise set in an idyllic forest setting. Similar to Zhang’s workshop, Village Story employs local Miao women and aims to refine their skills, allowing them to create pieces in their villages for sale at the Village Story showroom or at shops in Danzhai Wanda Village.
By providing Miao women with an income stream related to their traditional crafts, this initiative helps stem the tide of women leaving their villages for factory jobs.
Protecting an Endangered Way of Life
Preserving minority culture and customs in areas like Danzhai requires considerable effort, from passionate individuals to governments and corporations. Nonetheless, few have contributed more to the preservation of Miao culture than Chinese anthropologist Wang Fenggang. As the Miao people lack a written language, they have relied on oral history to pass on their knowledge, customs, and stories. Furthermore, the rapid pace of China’s development threatened this traditional method of knowledge transfer, prompting Wang to dedicate his life to capturing the Miao people’s jiali (oral history).
Since 1972, Wang has studied and recorded the Miao’s history, philosophy, mythology, and customs, culminating in several published volumes in 2009 that total over 800,000 words. This legacy is invaluable, especially considering that Wang has fought against Motor Neurone disease for much of his life.
As Wang stated in a recent interview regarding the crucial role of preserving intangible cultural heritage: “If ethnic culture is lost, civilization will only be left with an empty shell; the soul will die with it, and the people will forget their history and will not see their future.”
